355002001

MBA
Strategic Management
Fall Semester, 2012
3 credit hours
Professor Yegmin Chang, Ph.D.
Department of Business Administration
Office: 1012 Comm Bldg
Phone: x-81012
Email: ymchang@nccu.edu.tw
COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is the capstone course in the MBA program. After finishing
functional management courses such as marketing management, financial
management, human resource management, etc. with which to learn to
become a competent functional manager, students will study this course to
learn how to integrate these functional courses and make business decisions
that view the company as a whole. In other words, students learn to analyze
business problems or issues confronting the total enterprise, not just
interpret them as personnel, money, product, or production problems. The
total enterprise perspective is the strategy perspective and making strategic
decision from the-company-as-a-whole point of view is the job of general
managers. Therefore, this course is designed to train students to analyze
business situations from the point of view of the practicing general manager.
General managers have responsibility for making strategic decisions that
insure the long-term prosperity of the entire firm or a major division.
The key tasks of the general manager, the content of general
management, include the determination of purpose and direction of the
company or division, the detection of environmental change, the
identification of opportunities and strategies to pursue the opportunities, the
procurement and allocation of critical resources, the integration of activities
across various parts of the organization, and, the monitoring of the whole
process to achieve expected results. In short, the general manager is the
mediator between environmental change and internal organizations
response. To be effective, general managers need to have foresight of
environmental changes and at the same time have a sound understanding of
how an organization with its loose-coupling parts produces outcomes. He
needs relevant knowledge in functional areas such as marketing, finance,
R&D, and production which students have already learned the subjects in
previous courses. He also needs relevant knowledge and skills in
environmental analysis to understand emerging trends in demands and
competition. These knowledge and skills will be the focus of this course.
Not everyone who takes this course will ultimately become a general
manager. Yet, for two reasons, this course will benefit virtually all students.
First, recent trends in the corporate world towards creating flatter, less
hierarchical organizations have resulted in strategic decisions being made at
lower hierarchical levels. Thus, even non-executives are likely to make
decisions and initiate actions that have significant strategic implications.
Similarly, even the lowest level employees within firms are now being asked
to contribute innovative and creative ideas that will improve the functioning
of the organization as a whole. Thus, it is increasingly important for nonexecutives to understand how their actions affect the whole enterprise.
Second, functional specialists will also benefit from developing a general
management perspective so they will have a better understanding of the
problems they are dealing with and of the expectations of the top executives.
Ultimately, every functions actions must be coordinated with the overall
needs of the business. In fact, functional specialists are the people on whom
2

general managers must rely to implement strategy. Since functional

managers are often under pressure to fix problems in their own areas without
regard to the overall needs of the business, it is critical that functional
managers develop a keen awareness and appreciation of the challenges
facing the enterprise as a whole.

TEXTBOOK and CASES:

1) Recommended Textbook
(a) Barney, Jay B. Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage.
3rd Ed., Prentice-Hall, 2008.
(b) Rebert M. Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis. 6th ed.,,
Oxford: Blackwell Publication. 2009.
(c) Kim, W, Chan, and R. Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to
Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition
Irrelevant. Harvard Business School Press, 2005.
2) Readings: a couple of Harvard Business Review articles could be found in
universitys Moodle learning website under the course number..
3) Cases: Harvard Business School Cases (to be purchased from PERDO
office).

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:
1.Porter, M.E. Competitive Strategy, Free Press, 1980.
2.Hamel, Gary, and C.K. Prahalad, Competing for Future, HBS Press, 1994.
3.Hamel, Gary, Leading Revolution, HBS Press, 2000.
4.Barlett, C. A. and S. Ghoshal, The Individualized Corporation, HarperCollins, 1997.
5.Porter, M. E., On Competition, HBS Press.
6.Mintzberg, . et. al., Strategy Safari: A Guide Tour through the Wilds
of Strategic Management. Free Press, 1998.
7.Bossidy, D. and R. Charan, Execution: The Discipline of Getting
Things Done, 2002.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. The general managers perspective, or strategic perspective.

2. The strategic management/strategic planning/strategic decision making
process, including SWOT analysis.
3. The strategy content, including business level strategy, corporate-level
strategy, and international strategy.
Specifically, the course aims to assist students to
1. Develop and reinforce a general management point of view -- the capacity
to view the firm from an overall perspective, in the context of its
environment.
2. Develop an understanding of fundamental concepts in strategic
management: the concept of strategy, the strategic decision making
process, environmental analysis, competitive analysis, and strategy
implementation and organizational change.
3. Synthesize the knowledge gained in previous courses.
4. Obtain familiarity with tools of industry analysis by analyzing the key
characteristics of an industry.
5. Develop a better understanding of the inner workings of large, complex
organizations the goal being for students to better understand their
future work environment.
6.
7.

Apply in working out business strategies and implementation plans.

Develop habits of orderly, analytical thinking and skill in reporting
conclusions effectively in both written and oral form.

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION
Lecture
Discussion
Group activity (Group
presentation)
E-learning
Others (Field Trip)

10%
65%
15%
5%
5%

SCHEDULE
Wee Date Class Content & study material
k

Source

9/17

9/24

10/1

4
5

10/8
10/1
5

10/2
2

10/2
9

11/5

11/1
2

10

11/
19
11/2
6

11

12

12/3

Course Overview
Reading: Porter, What is Strategy (HBR)
The Concept of Strategy
Reading: Can You Say What Your
Moodle
Strategy Is (HBR)
Case: Harley-Davidson Preparing for
HBS 906410
the Next Century
Required Reading: CMR84Moodle
Perspectives on Strategy Real Story
Honda
Five Forces and Industry Structure
Reading: Porter, The Five Competing
Moodle
Forces that Shape Strategy (HBR)
Case: Crown Cork and Seal in 1989
HBS 973035
Case: Apple Inc. in 2010
HBS 710467
Case: Bally Total Fitness
HBS 706450
Case: Cola Wars Continue: Coke and
HBS 711462
Pepsi in 2010
Understanding Competition and Emergent
Strategy
Case: Netflix
HBS 607138
Case: HTC Corp. in 2009
HBS 709466
Competitive Positioning
Reading: Ghemawat, Creating
Moodle
Competitive Advantage
Case: Wal-Mart Stores, 2003 (Abridged HBS 709423
Version)
Case: Tata Nano the People's car
Case: Samsung Electronics
HBS 705-508
Case: Airborne Express
HBS 798070
Reading: Value Innovation the
Moodle
Strategic Logic of High Growth (HBR)
Case: Edward Jones in 2006:
HBS 707497
Confronting Success
Midterm individual paper due
Case: Zara: Fast Fashion

HBS 703497

Competitive Dynamics
Case: Asahi Breweries, Ltd.

HBS 389114

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12/1
0

14

12/1
7
12/2
4

15

16
17
18

12/3
1
1/7
1/1
4

Case: Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair

HBS 700115
(A)
Related Diversification
Reading: Creating Corporate
Moodle
Advantage
Case: Walt Disney Co.: The
HBS 701035
Entertainment King
Case: The Walt Disney Company and
HBS 709462
Pixar
Globalization as Diversification of Markets
Case: Haier: Taking a Chinese
HBS 706401
Company Global
Case: Globalization at Komatsu
HBS 910415
Company Visit
Final Presentation of Group Case Projects
Final Presentation of Group Case Projects

ASSESSMENT:
1) Individual class participation
2) Individual mid-term paper
3) Final Group Case Project-report & presentation

45%
25%
30%

Class participation
It is important to appreciate that the students in the class are coproducers of the class discussion. It is crucial that you listen carefully to the
questions that are posed and that the class collectively attempts to answer
them. For this to happen, class members need to listen carefully to one
another and to extend or critique prior comments. The discussion should be
a conversation in which al participants recognize that they have an
obligation to advance our understanding of the issue at hand. The extent of
your contribution to this learning process will be appraised in addition to the
content of what you contribute.
Consider the following questions when monitoring the effectiveness of
your own participation:
1. Are the points relevant to the discussion? Are they linked to the
comments of others and to the themes that the class is exploring
together? Do they significantly advance the discussion?

2. Do the comments add to our understanding of the situation? Are

they incisive? Do they cut to the core of the problem? Comments
that simply repeat case facts get no credit.
3. Is there a willing to challenge the ideas that are being expressed?
Playing devils advocate often exposes new perspectives and
provokes interesting debate. Such contributions are particularly
value.
Individual mid-term paper
Write an essay paper summarizing/synthesizing an emerging/new
issue/concept within the discipline of strategy/strategic management based
on at least three related articles you select from these three journals:
Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Sloan
Management Review. The paper should be at least two pages long, double
spaced, using 12-point font. The due time is 11:59pm, November 14.
Final Group Case Project-report & presentation
Group case project is to write and present a case analysis of a
successful firm headquartered in SE&E Asia region. There are two types of
case style to be adopted:
One is the general strategy case. The focus of the case is to report the
strategy of a company. The case may include: (the case part) (a) A
description of the brief history of the company, its strategy, its products,
markets, and scope of operation; (the analysis part) (b) To explain why the
company has been successful in the past in light of the companys
environment, resources, key managers decisions, or other relevant factors.
(c) To conduct a SWOT analysis that analyze the current environment
concerning its future trends and their impact on the firm and competition, as
well as its internal weaknesses against achieving goals, and (d) to suggest
changes (if any) that need to be made.
The second type is the strategy case with focused themes. The case
may be about industry analysis and competitive dynamics, or about the
companys strategic issues with strategy themes such as merger and
acquisition, diversification, investment expansion, new product launch, new
market entry, restructuring, alliances,etc. The case may include: (the case
part) a description of the strategic decision situation, firms involved; (the
analysis part) the theme/issue. Use of SWOT analysis is optional.
Each group may conduct field interview (the college has EMBA
students) or library research or a combination of both to prepare the case.
Each member of the group is expected to contribute a similar amount of
effort to the teamwork. Each group may turn in (a) their PowerPoint file with
no bonus points; or (b) a more complete version of the written report either

in printed or electronic form as the final report with bonus points up to 10%
of the original grade earned from this case project.

Expectations from students for creating a healthy learning

environment
1. You are encouraged to form a study group that meet every week
prior to the class to discuss and exchange viewpoints about each
case. It will facilitate your participation in class case discussion. The
study group may not be the same group that will work on the final
case project.
2. Your class participation should not benefit from notes of case
discussion from students who have taken this course in prior
semesters or at other schools, nor from other sources such as
Google, friends in Internet, etc. Also, simply reading from notes
handed to you by a study group member is not acceptable.
3. Be prepared for every class. Students whose hands are not raised
will be called on in addition to those who raise their hands. If you
are not prepared for the class, let me know before the start of the
class your personal problem or emergency that had made it
impossible for you to prepare adequately for that class.
4. Because a case-oriented course relies on class participation for its
success, attendance at every class is considered extremely
important. Please schedule other activities at times other than when
class meets. Missing classes will seriously adversely affect your
grade.
5. This is an integrative class I shall be expecting you to draw on
knowledge you have gained from your prior work or other courses. If
you feel you do not have good grip of some important concepts, you
are always encouraged to refresh your previous learning by
checking on other textbooks or to google related key words of these
concepts.
6. Please arrive on time and stay from beginning to end.
7. If you have discovered that you are not ready for this level of
course, or not comfortable with case discussion, please drop from
this course as early as possible.

Case Discussion Questions:

Case: Harley-Davidson Preparing for the Next Century

1. Historically, how did Harley-Davidson manage to dominate the US

market? How did it do so and what were its sources of competitive
advantage? And starting in the 1970s Harley-Davidson got into
trouble, what changed? Internally? Externally?
2. What were the major ingredients of Harley-Davidsons transformation
process/ What elements seemed to you to be the most important?
What is your evaluation of the transformation process?
3. What are Harley-Davidsons current sources of competitive advantage?
Can these be sustained in light of the latest competitor moves? If you
are Honda, where do you think Harley-Davidson is vulnerable? What is
the Harley-Davidson mystique?
4. What are challenges facing Harley-Davidson as it enters the 21st
century? What is your evaluation of their current strategy? What
specific recommendations do you have for Jeff Bluestein? Short-term?
Long-term?
Case: Crown Cork and Seal in 1989
1. How attractive has the metal container been over the years?
2. How well did Crown Cork do under John Connelly? What were the keys to
their success?
3. What significant changes are taking place in the industry? How should
the new CEO, Bill Avery, respond? Is it finally time to change the
Connelly strategy that has been successful for over 30 years?
Case: Apple Inc. in 2010
1. What, historically, have been Apples competitive advantages?
2. Analyze the personal computer industry. Are the dynamics favorable or
problematic for Apple?
3. How sustainable is Apples competitive position in PCs?
4. How sustainable is Apples competitive position in MP3 players?
5. How do you assess Apples competitive position in smartphones?
6. What are the prospects for the iPad?
Case: Bally Total Fitness
1.
What does the health club industry look like in 2004? Who are the
customers/suppliers? What is their relative power? What are the
barriers to entry? Which companies are substitutes for Bally Total
Fitness? How strong is the rivalry in the Fitness Industry? How
attractive is this industry?
2.
How is Bally Total Fitness positioned in the health club industry?
What is Ballys strategy?
3.
If you were in charge of Bally Total Fitness, what would you do next?

4.
5.

What are the basic economics of health clubs?

How structurally attractive was the health club industry in 2004?
What average level of returns would you expect it to support?
6.
What do you see as the key trends in the industry in 2004? How do
you think these trends will affect profitability, and evolve over time?
7.
What advantages did Ballys scale bring? What challenges did Bally
face? Evaluate Ballys response. What else might Bally do?
Case: Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010
1. Is the soft drink industry profitable? And why or why not?
2. Compare the economics of the concentrate business to the bottling
business: Why is the profitability so different?
3. How has the competition between Coke and Pepsi affected the
industry profitability? Are these firms making strategic mistakes? And
why or why not?
Case: Netflix
1. Would you have been long or short Blockbuster stock at the time of the
case? How about Netflix? Why?
2. Did Netflix do the same jobs for consumers that Blockbuster did? How
did this evolve over time?
3. Compare Blockbusters and Netflixs profit models. How might the
differences affect the respective companys strategies?
4. As you examine each major shift in Netflixs strategy, what might have
been an assumptions checklist that they might have used at each
stage? What assumption checklist might you use for VOD?
Case: HTC Corp. in 2009
1. Evaluate HTCs performance to date. What are its competitive
advantages and vulnerabilities?
2. What should HTCs OS strategy be? Should it stick with Windows
Mobile and Android? Should HTC build its own platform? Add/drop
others?
3. All smartphone companies with operating systems have opened their
own app store, trying to emulate Apples success. Samsung and LG
announced plans to do the same as well. Should HTC build its own app
store> Do something else?
4. Peter Chou and Cher Wang want to make HTC into the leading
smartphone company in the world. What kind of strategic actions are
needed to achieve this goal?
Case: Wal-Mart Stores, 2003 (Abridged Version)
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1. What are the sources of Wal-Marts competitive advantage in discount

retailing?
2. How sustainable their position in discount retailing will be in the
future?
Case: Tata Nano the People's car
1. What drove Tata to commit to design an affordable car?
2. How did Tata leverage his network to produce the Nano?
3. What enabled Tata to produce a disruptive innovation from such a
large company?
4. How would you describe Tata's leadership style? How is that different
from Chairman Lee at Samsung or Steve Jobs at Apple? Is one
leadership style better than the other? What role does culture play?
What criteria should we use to measure leadership success? Do
different cultures have different measures?
5. The case mentions a thin margin on the Tata Nano, estimate the
break even point in units if Tata invests in plant capacity for an
aggressive launch. Recommend your investment decision
Case: Zara: Fast Fashion
1. With which of the international competitors listed in the case is it most
interesting to compare Inditexs financial results? Why? What do
comparisons indicate about Inditexs relative operating economics? Its
relative capital efficiency?
2. How specifically do the distinctive features of Zaras business model
affect its operating economics? Specifically, compare Zara with an
average retailer with similar posted prices. In order to express all
advantages/disadvantages on a common basis, you may find it
convenient to assume that on average, retail selling prices are about
twice as high as manufacturers selling prices.
3. Can you graph the linkages among Zaras choices about how to
compete, particularly ones connected to its quick-response capability,
and the ways in which they create competitive advantage? What does
the exercise suggest about such capabilities as bases for competitive
advantage?
4. Why might Zara fail? How sustainable would you calibrate its
competitive advantage as being relative to the kinds of advantages
typically pursued by other apparel retailers?
Case: Samsung Electronics
1. What kind of advantage are the Chinese entrants seeking? How close
are they to achieving that advantage?
2. How much of Samsungs performance is based on its reputed how-cost
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3.
4.

5.
6.

advantage?
Can Samsungs low-cost advantage withstand the Chinese threat on
costs?
Does anyone think the numbers mask the fact that Samsungs
differentiation advantage is more important or easier to grow and
sustain or both?
If Samsung is both low-cost and differentiated, how does it do both?
Why cant more firms in other industries do the same?

Case: Airborne Express

1. How did the express mail industry evolve over time? What are the
main changes in recent years and how were smaller competitors
affected by these changes?
2. Compare Airborne Expresss strategy with the strategies of FedEx and
UPS.
3. What is the advantage of Airborne Express Strategy? How has Airborne
Express managed to success in its industry?
Case: Edward Jones in 2006: Confronting Success
1. Why do you think Edward Jones survived the financial services crisis
that has taken so many of its brokerage competitors? Why has Edward
Jones performed so well for so long?
2. Can Edward Jones take advantage of the recent crisis I the brokerage
business? What should it change in order to capitalize on the
opportunities?
3. Are there flaws in Edward Jones strategy? What, if anything, should it
change to remedy those flaws?
4. What do we learn from this case about strategy in financial services?
Case: Asahi Breweries, Ltd.
1. Why did Kirin become so dominant in Japans industry reading a
market share of over 60%? What competitive advantages resulted
from this dominant position and how sustainable were they?
2. What specifically did Messrs. Mirai and Higuch bring to Asahi? How
would you characterize their policies, behavior, and contributions?
3. How and why did Asahi double its market share?
4. What will the Japanese beer market look like in terms of product
segments in the future? What alternate scenarios are plausible and
what are their respective implications for the competing firms? In light
of your own assessment as to the future evolution of the industry,
would you recommend to Mr. Higuchi that he pursue his strategic
plans?

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Case: Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A)

1. What is your assessment of Ryanairs launch strategy?
2. How do you expect Aer Lingus and British Airways to respond? Why>
3. How costly would it be for Aer Lingus and British Airways to retaliate
against Ryanairs launch rather than accommodate it?
4. Ca the Ryan brothers make money at the I98 fare they propose?
Case: Walt Disney Co.: The Entertainment King
1. How did Disney achieve its status as the largest entertainment
conglomerate?
2. How did Disney explore its synergy of entertainment conglomerate?
3. How should Disney maintain its goal of growth and profitability?
Case: The Walt Disney Company and Pixar
1. Which is greater: the value of Pixar and Disney in an exclusive
relationship, or the sum of the value that each could create if they
operated independently of one another or were allowed to form
relationships with other companies? Why?
2. Assuming that Pixar and Disney are more valuable in an exclusive
relationship, can that value be realized through a new contract? Or is
common ownership required (i.e., must Disney acquire Pixar)?
3. If Disney does acquire Pixar, how should Bob Iger and his team
organize and manage the combined entity? What challenges do you
foresee, and how would you meet them?
Case: Haier: Taking a Chinese Company Global
1. Why was Haier so successful in China?
2. Was Haiers decision to globalize into developed markets early on a
good strategy?
3. Can Haier build on its success in niche products to become a dominant
global brand in high-end white goods?
4. Is Haiers three thirds strategy a viable or wise approach?
Case: Globalization at Komatsu
1. Describe the process Komatsu undertook to transform itself from a
local company in Japan into a global giant in the earth moving
equipment industry.
2. What are the sources of Komatsus success? What are Komatsus
competitive advantages?

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CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT
01. (Leadership and teamwork skills)
02. (Cultivate professional management
ability)
03. (Inspire Innovation)
04. (Establish a global perspective)
05. (Develop implementation ability)
06. (Ethical and moral integrity)

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3
5
2
5
4
2

Evaluation Criterion of Case Presentation

Date of Submission:
Presentation Case:
Group #:
Criterion
Structure/
Organizati
on

Description
Information
presented in logical
sequence that
audience can follow
Content
Demonstrate full
knowledge of the
case under
investigation with
satisfactory
explanation and
elaboration
Issues and Identification of,
Analysis
analysis of issues,
presentation of
solution/synthesis
Presentati Delivery, tone and
on skill,
voice, and visual
Handle
aids, Generate
Q&A
discussions, response
to queries.
Command Demonstrate good
of
command of
Knowledge knowledge learned
from this course and
elsewhere.

Weight
10%

Score Comments

30%

20%

10%

30%

Group Members and individual contribution (total: 100%):

Member ID No.
1.

__

2.

3.

_________ Name

_________ _____Contribution_

________________ _______
_

______________ _________
____________ ___________

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__

4.

____________ ___________

5.

____________ ___________

6.

____________ ___________

7.

____________ ___________
Evaluation Criterion of Case Written Report
Date of Submission:
Group #:

Title:
Criterion
Context
and
backgrou
nd
informatio
n/
relevance
Content

Writing

Analysis

Applicatio
n

Description
Why of this case. How
does this case relate
to course materials.

Weight
10%

Case is informative
and rich in learning
material. Incidents are
interesting and
realistically portrayed
Writing, free of errors,
format/organization,
information used
Identification of issues,
Analysis of issues,
synthesis/solution,
Application of
knowledge learned
from this course and
elsewhere.

30%

Score Comments

10%

30%

20%

Group Members and individual contribution (total: 100%):

Member ID No.

_________ Name _________ _____Contribution_

16

__

8.

__

9.

________________ _______
_

______________ _________

10.

____________ ___________

11.

____________ ___________

12.

____________ ___________

13.

____________ ___________

14.

____________ ___________

ASSURANCE OF LEARNING
Adherence to Mission
Technology
Innovation

Globalization
Humanity

Adherence to Program Learning Goals

After completing this course, students are expected to
demonstrate a good grip of key terminology in the strategy
literature, a skill in analyzing a case from a strategic perspective,
ability in independent study of a companys strategy and its
environment. Meanwhile, students will be more confident in
presentation and handling questions.
Pedagogical Methodologies
e-Learning
Lecture
Seminar
Study Group
Internship
Case Study
Independent Learning
Project
Role-Playing
Seminar
Theater Learning
Others

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Student Abilities Enhancement

Quantitative analysis Sympathy

Theory

Development

and Teamwork

Conceptual Thinking

Strategic Thinking

Acceptance of Others

Critical Thinking

Confidence

Quick Thinking
Flexibility

Selfmanagement
Professional Knowledge

Creativity

Others: Concept mapping____

:______________________

Persistency

Others: ________________________
:______________________

Communication

Others: ________________________
:______________________

Comprehension Ability Others: ________________________

:______________________

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